The present invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Leucanthemum commonly known as Shasta daisy, which is grown as an ornamental plant for use in the garden and landscape. The new cultivar is known botanically as Leucanthemum superbum and will be referred to hereinafter by the cultivar name ‘Real Neat’.
Leucanthemum is a genus within the family Asteraceae in which the commonly referred to “flower” is botanically the inflorescence which is comprised of outer showy ray florets surrounding smaller disc florets.
‘Real Neat’ arose and was selected from an ongoing breeding program which is conducted in West Sussex, United Kingdom. The breeding program commenced in 2006 with the aim of developing new and improved commercial varieties of Leucanthemum. Each year's breeding cycle consists of controlled pollination between chosen male and female parents including unnamed and unreleased seedlings retained from previous breeding cycles. Seed from each year's cycle is harvested and sown in early February of the following year after harvest, and new seedlings are raised and evaluated in the following summer.
‘Real Neat’ is a seedling selection that resulted from the controlled pollination of a single plant of Leucanthemum code number ‘L701-1’ (unreleased seedling retained from a previous breeding generation) as the female parent, using pollen from a single plant of Leucanthemum ‘Real Joy’ (L35) (unreleased, unpatented) as the male parent. ‘Real Neat’ was selected based on the criteria of vigor, formal pure white flowers and strong stiff stems.
‘Real Neat’ was first asexually propagated in West Sussex, United Kingdom in 2008 using the method of vegetative division and subsequently by basal shoot cuttings. Since that time under careful observation, the distinguishing characteristics of ‘Real Neat’ have been determined to be uniform, stable and true to type in subsequent generations of asexual propagation via vegetative division and subsequently by basal shoot cuttings.